George Charles Beresford
Encyclopedia
Dromahair
Dromahair is a small village in County Leitrim, Ireland. Dromahair is 10 km from Manorhamilton and 17 km from Sligo town.-Geography:Dromahair lies in the hilly north west of Leitrim amid some stunning unspoiled natural landscapes...
, County Leitrim
County Leitrim
County Leitrim is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the county...
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A member of the Beresford family headed by the Marquess of Waterford
Marquess of Waterford
Marquess of Waterford is a title in the Peerage of Ireland and the premier marquessate in that peerage. It was created in 1789 for George Beresford, 2nd Earl of Tyrone.-Family history:...
and the third of five children, he was the son of Major Henry Marcus Beresford (1835-1895) and Julia Ellen Maunsell (d. 1923). His paternal grandfather was the Most Reverend Marcus Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh
The Archbishop of Armagh is the title of the presiding ecclesiastical figure of each of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland in the region around Armagh in Northern Ireland...
, youngest son of the Right Reverend George Beresford
George Beresford (clergyman)
The Right Reverend George de la Poer Beresford , was an Irish clergyman.A member of the Beresford family headed by the Marquess of Waterford, Beresford was the son of John Beresford, younger son of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone...
, Bishop of Kilmore
Bishop of Kilmore
The Bishop of Kilmore is an episcopal title which takes its name after the parish of Kilmore in County Cavan, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other bishoprics.-History:...
, second son of John Beresford, second son of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone
Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone
Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone , known as Sir Marcus Beresford, 4th Baronet until 1720 and subsequently as The Viscount Tyrone until 1746, was an Irish peer, freemason and politician.-Background:...
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Beresford was sent to Westward Ho!
Westward Ho!
Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford and Bude...
in 1877 and attended the United Services College
United Services College
United Services College was an English private boys' public boarding school for the sons of military officers, located at Westward Ho! near Bideford in North Devon...
. On leaving in 1882 he enrolled at the Royal Indian Engineering College
Royal Indian Engineering College
The Royal Indian Engineering College was a British college of Civil Engineering founded by Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1870. It was intended to train engineers for the Indian Public Works department. The work of the college was transferred to India in 1906....
at Cooper's Hill
Englefield Green
Englefield Green is a large village in northern Surrey, England. It is home to Royal Holloway, University of London, the south eastern corner of Windsor Great Park and close to the towns of Egham, Windsor, Staines and Virginia Water...
, and from there went to India in 1882 as a civil engineer in the Public Works Department
Public Works Department
Many governments worldwide have had departments or ministries referred to as the Public Works Department either formally or informally.In Australia: -New South Wales -*Office of Public Works and Services, New South Wales...
. After four years he contracted malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
and returned to England to study art, eventually exhibiting at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
Between 1902 and 1932 he worked from a studio in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a road which gives its name to an exclusive district lying to the west of central London. The road runs along the south side of Hyde Park, west from Hyde Park Corner, spanning the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
at 20 Yeoman's Row, Brompton Road. Here he produced platinotype
Platinotype
Platinum prints, also called platinotypes, are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process that provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using chemical development....
portraits of writers, artists and politicians who were celebrities of the time. His images were used in publications such as The World's Work
World's Work
World's Work was a monthly magazine which celebrated the American way of life and its expanded role on the world stage. In 1932 it was purchased by and merged into the journal Review of Reviews. It was founded in 1900 and edited by Walter Hines Page until 1913 when his son Arthur W...
, The Sketch
The Sketch
The Sketch was a British illustrated newspaper weekly, which focused on high society and the aristocracy. It ran for 2,989 issues between February 1, 1893 and June 17, 1959. It was published by the Illustrated London News Company and was primarily a society magazine with regular features on royalty...
, The Tatler and The Illustrated London News. He donated substantially to the Red Cross in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and later turned to a very successful dealing in antiques. In 1943 the National Portrait Gallery acquired some of his negatives and prints from his former secretary.
Beresford was a close friend of Augustus John
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....
and Sir William Orpen, another Irishman - they produced a number of images of each other.
Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's character M'Turk in Stalky & Co.
Stalky & Co.
Stalky & Co. is a book published in 1899 by Rudyard Kipling, about adolescent boys at a British boarding school. It is a collection of linked short stories in format, with some information about the charismatic Stalky character in later life. The character Beetle, one of the main trio, is partly...
was based on Beresford, whose autobiography Schooldays with Kipling appeared in 1936.
Family
Major Henry Marcus Beresford (2 March 1835 - 5 February 1895) and Julia Ellen Maunsell (died 13 October 1923) were married on 10 April 1861. Their children were:- 1 Lt.-Col. Kennedy Beresford (25 January 1862 - 25 April 1943) x Grace Des Barres - 1 Gervais De La Poer Beresford, 2 Sybil Beresford
- 2 Marcus Francis Beresford (26 December 1862 - 14 December 1896) x Fanny Catherine Wingfield
- 3 George Charles Beresford (10 July 1864 - 21 February 1938)
- 4 Henry Lowry Lambert Beresford (November 1869 - 25 September 1932)
- 5 Eva Emily Beresford d. 18 Feb 1960 x Anthony Fritz Maude